What Happened on September 6?

The first self-service grocery market opened in the US. (1916) Clarence Saunders, who had patented the idea of a self-service market, opened the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee. There are still more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores in the US today.

Palestinian terrorists hijacked and blew up four airplanes in Europe bound for New York. (1970) The hijackers held 382 passengers from four separate airplanes hostage, demanding the release of three Arab prisoners from a Swiss jail. One plane was taken to Cairo where the militants blew it up after evacuating the hostages. The other three planes were taken to Jordan where they also were blown up after removing hostages. All but six hostages were released on September 11; the remaining six were exchanged for one of the hijackers who had been captured by police and taken to London.

The world's first tank was produced. (1915) Little Willie, a tank prototype, was produced in England. The original prototype weighed 14 tons (about 12,700 kilograms) and could travel about 2 miles per hour (3.2 kilometers per hour). The design was improved and the invention changed the course of military battle worldwide.

The first circumnavigation of the world on the high seas was completed. (1522) The ship Vittoria, one of Ferdinand Magellan's ships, sailed into Spain, completing the round-the-world trip. Only 22 of the original crew members survived — many had starved to death or died from scurvy.

US President William McKinley was assassinated. (1901) Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist from Michigan, shot President McKinley in Buffalo, New York, while he was attending the Pan-American Exposition. Czolgosz was sentenced to death and electrocuted on October 29, 1901.

The Nazi's started forcing Jews who lived in German-occupied territories to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing. (1941) All Jews older than six years old were required to wear the patch so they could be identified in public. The Nazi's used the identifying patch to round up Jewish families to send to concentration camps.

The man who received the world's first baboon liver transplant died. (1992) The 35-year-old man lived for 10 weeks after having the transplant surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He was given the experimental surgery because he had fatal form of hepatitis B; he ultimately died of a stroke. The medical team announced intentions to try the surgery again.

Hendrik Verwoerd, the Prime Minister of South Africa and the father of apartheid, was murdered. (1966) Verwoerd, ironically, was stabbed to death by a mentally ill messenger, Demetrio Tsafendas, who was not protesting apartheid. Tsafendas was confined in a mental institution until he died in 1999.

Robert Peary announced he had reached the North Pole six months earlier, on April 6. (1909) Peary was a Rear Admiral in the US Navy. His claim established him as the first person to ever reach the North Pole, but many scientists then and today doubt his claim.

2.5 billion people watched Princess Diana's funeral. (1997) Elton John rewrote and performed his hit Candle in the Wind especially for her service, which was watched by more people than almost any other event in world history.

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KrunchymanPost 4

In relation to the second bullet point, considering how security (especially on airplanes) was much less secure and more laid back in the 70's, it's not hard to see why a hijacking like this occurred. However, something like that would never happen in this day and age, especially since the events of 9/11. On another note, one thing I have noticed much more recently is that some people seem to have a fear of flying. Even though we shouldn't let this hinder our trips, on the other hand, it's understandable. This is especially taking into fact, all of the recent plane incidents, such as the one that went missing and was found in the Pacific Ocean.

VirantyPost 3

I don't know about anyone else, but reading about the third to last bullet point really disturbs me, especially considering the fact that this man received an organ transplant from an animal. Considering how the procedure is so outlandish, it's no wonder why he died. Even though many animals have the same organs as us, one of the major differences is that they might not function in the same way that ours do. As it's also indirectly stated in the article, it was more experimental than anything else, and it really shows. It really makes me wonder if anyone unusual transplants have occurred since this incident. If so, it would have to be someone who is incredibly foolish, or willing to take any chance at having a healthy functioning organ.

EuroxatiPost 2

In my opinion, Hitler was very clever when he began to force the Jews into concentration camps. In other words, though he and his soldiers were very brutal and ruthless about it, it was also a very slow process. More than likely, this was because they didn't want the Jews to suspect that anything was up, at least not yet.

For example, when the Jews were first forced to live in guarded territories, the rules weren't all that strict. All the Jews had to do was make sure they didn't stay out past curfew. However, as time went on, things began to get more serious.

Sometimes, they were restricted from going outside, they were banned from certain stores, and even more so, the Germans began to separate the men from the women so that they could be sent to the concentration camps.

This was one of the many ruthless tactics employed by Hitler and his army, who were not only determined to kill them, but give them a false sense of hope as well.